Sucker

ABSTRACT

A sucker includes: a main body having a bottom face formed with an annular abutment; a disc body made of a flexible material having a tapered annular wall, the disc body being disposed under the bottom face of the main body, an outer circumference of the annular wall being formed with a freely flexible lip edge positioned below the annular abutment face; an air chamber being formed in the disc body; and an air-sucking passage having a first end in communication with the air chamber of the disc body and a second end passing through the disc body and the main body to communicate with outer side. When the sucker sucks a surface of an object, the top face of the lip edge is in contact with the abutment face and supported thereby.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates generally to a device for providingsucking force, and more particularly to a sucker structure.

2. Description of the Related Art

A conventional sucker is able to provide sucking force to suck and fixan object. The conventional suckers can be substantially classified intotwo types. One is the sucker connected to a power source (such as asucking device). The other is the sucker free from any power source. Thesucker operates in a principle that the air pressure in the sucker issmaller than the atmospheric pressure so as to create sucking force.

No matter which type the sucker pertains to, the conventional sucker canbe only applied to a polished surface such as glass. In the case thatthe sucker is applied to a non-polished surface, the internal airchamber of the sucker will communicate with the outer side to loss thesucking effect. Therefore, it is always an important topic in this fieldhow to maintain the sucking force of the sucker and enhance the loadcapability of the sucker.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is therefore a primary object of the present invention to provide asucker structure, which has higher sucking effect.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide the abovesucker structure, which can be used in cooperation with a power source.The sucker structure is applicable to a non-polished surface.

The sucker of the present invention includes: a main body, a bottom faceof the main body being formed with an annular abutment face; a disc bodymade of a flexible material, the disc body being disposed under thebottom face of the main body, the disc body having a tapered annularwall formed around the disc body, an outer circumference of the annularwall being outward downward inclined to form a lip edge, which is freelyflexible, an air chamber being formed in the disc body and defined bythe annular wall of the disc body; and an air-sucking passage having afirst end and a second end. The first end of the air-sucking passagecommunicates with the air chamber of the disc body. The second end ofthe air-sucking passage passes through the disc body and the main bodyto communicate with outer side.

Thanks to the flexibility of the lip edge, when the sucker sucks asurface of an object, the lip edge contacts the surface by a relativelygentle angle, whereby the contact area between the disc body and theobject is larger to achieve a better sucking effect. The air in the airchamber is prevented from escaping from the disc body.

The sucker of the present invention is applicable to a non-polishedsurface such as the rough surface of a wooden board, a brick and a wall.

The sucker of the present invention has excellent sucking effect andhigher load capability.

The present invention can be best understood through the followingdescription and accompanying drawings, wherein:

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a first embodiment of the sucker of thepresent invention;

FIG. 2 is a bottom perspective view according to FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a partially longitudinal sectional view taken along line 3-3of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a bottom view according to FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the first embodiment of the sucker of thepresent invention, showing the use thereof;

FIG. 6 is a longitudinal sectional view of a second embodiment of thesucker of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a sectional view according to FIG. 6, showing the use of thesecond embodiment of the sucker of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a longitudinal sectional view of a third embodiment of thesucker of the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a sectional view according to FIG. 8, showing the use of thethird embodiment of the sucker of the present invention;

FIG. 10 is a longitudinal sectional view of a fourth embodiment of thesucker of the present invention;

FIG. 11 is a bottom perspective view of a fifth embodiment of the suckerof the present invention; and

FIG. 12 is a partially sectional view taken along line 12-12 of FIG. 11.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Please refer to FIGS. 1 to 3. According to a first embodiment, thesucker 10 of the present invention includes a main body 20, a soft discbody 30 and an air-sucking passage 40.

The main body 20 has the form of a circular disc and is made of hardmaterial. The main body 20 has a plane inner disc section 22 and anouter disc section 24 connected with outer circumference of the innerdisc section 22. The bottom face of the outer disc section is a conicface downward inclined and outward extending from the inner disc section22. The conic bottom face of the main body defines a concaved tapered orconic room 25. The bottom face of the main body 20 is further providedwith an annular abutment face 26 connected with outer periphery of theroom 25. Preferably, the annular abutment face 26 is a plane face. Inpractice, alternatively, the annular abutment face 26 also can be aninclined face. In this embodiment, the abutment face 26 is a horizontalplane face.

The disc body 30 is made of a flexible material with sealing effect,such as rubber. The disc body 30 is mounted in the room 25 of the bottomface of the main body 20. The disc body 30 has a conic annular wall 32formed around the disc body 30. An outer circumference of the annularwall 32 downward extends out of the room of the main body 20. A sectionof the annular wall 32 that protrudes from the room 25 forms a lip edge34 positioned below the abutment face 26 without attaching to orcontacting the abutment face 26. Therefore, the lip edge 34 is freelyflexible. An air chamber 36 is formed in the disc body 30 as an inwardrecessed space defined by the annular wall 32. Please refer to FIG. 3.The lip edge 34 of the annular wall 32 is outward downward inclined. Anangle θ contained between the lip edge 34 and the abutment face 26 issmaller than 45 degrees. For example, the angle θ ranges from 20 degreesto 35 degrees, and preferably ranges from 25 degrees to 35 degrees.Preferably, the angle θ is 30 degrees.

The air-sucking passage 40 passes through the center of the main body 20and the center of the disc body 30. A first end (a bottom end) of theair-sucking passage 40 communicates with the air chamber 36 of the discbody 30. A second end (a top end) of the air-sucking passage 40 passesthrough the disc body and the room of the main body to communicate withouter side. The air in the air chamber 36 can flow through theair-sucking passage 40.

The sucker 10 further includes a disc-shaped retainer member 50. Aprotrusion section 52 upward extends from the center of the top face ofthe retainer member 50. The retainer member is formed with an internalhole 54. The retainer member 50 is disposed under the disc body 30. Theprotrusion section 52 extends into a perforation 38 formed at the centerof the disc body 30. In practice, the protrusion section 52 is connectedwith the main body 20, whereby the disc body 30 is fixedly clampedbetween the main body 20 and the retainer member 50. The hole 54 of theretainer member 50 communicates with the air chamber 36. In the casethat the sucker 10 is simply composed of the main body, the disc bodyand the retainer member, the air-sucking passage 40 is formed of thepassage 28 of the main body 20 and the hole 54 of the retainer member orsimply formed of the hole 54. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, at least onechannel 56 is radially formed on the bottom face of the retainer member50 in communication with the hole 54 of the retainer member 50 andfurther in communication with the first end of the air-sucking passage40.

Please refer to FIG. 3. In this embodiment, the sucker further includesa cylindrical support 60 disposed on the top face of the main body 20.An airflow passage 61 is formed in the support 60. In this embodiment,the airflow passage 61 includes a longitudinal branch passage 62 and atleast one radial branch passage 64. The longitudinal branch passage 62extends in a longitudinal direction of the support. One end of thelongitudinal branch passage 62 is positioned at the bottom end of thesupport. The radial branch passage 64 extends in a radial direction ofthe support 60 in communication with the longitudinal branch passage 62.A hollow connection rod 70 has a passageway 72 passing through theconnection rod 70 between two ends thereof. The connection rod 70extends in an axial direction of the disc body 30 to pass through thedisc body 30 and the main body 20. Two ends of the connection rod 70 arerespectively connected with the bottom end of the support 60 and theretainer member 50. The support 60, the main body 20, the disc body 30and the retainer member 60 are connected with each other to togetherform a sandwich connection structure. Two ends of the passageway 72 ofthe connection rod 70 respectively communicate with the air chamber 36and the longitudinal branch passage 62. In this structure, theair-sucking passage 40 is formed of the passageway 72 of the connectionrod 70 and the airflow passage 61 of the support 60. In this embodiment,the connection rod 70 is a hollow threaded member, which has alarge-diameter head section 74 received in the hole 54 of the retainermember 50 in abutment with a shoulder section 58 of the retainer member.The other end of the connection rod 70 is screwed with a wall of thelongitudinal branch passage 62. An airtight member (O-ring) 601 isdisposed between the bottom end of the support 60 and the main body 20to achieve an airtight effect.

According to the above structure, a structure (not shown) capable ofgenerating a sucking force is connected with the airflow passage 61 ofthe support 60 to provide sucking force for the air chamber 36.

Please refer to FIGS. 2 and 3. In this embodiment, the sucker 10 furtherhas a fast flow way 80 for fast airflow to flow through. The fast flowway 80 is independent from the air-sucking passage 40. The fast flow way80 has an air inlet end 82 and an air outlet 84. A nozzle (not shown) isdisposed in the fast flow way 80. The second end of the air-suckingpassage 40, (that is, the second end of the airflow passage 61)communicates between the air inlet end and air outlet end of the fastflow way 80. In practice, the fast flow way 80 can be directly disposedon the support 60 in communication with the air-sucking passage 40.

Substantially, the first embodiment of the present invention furtherincludes a bridge member 90 and a connection value 100. The support 60passes through a first installation hole 92 of the bridge member. Theconnection valve 100 has a cylindrical shape and is installed in asecond installation hole 94 of the bridge member 90. The fast flow way80 is disposed in the connection valve 100. The air inlet end 82 and theair outlet end 84 of the fast flow way 80 are respectively positioned attwo ends of the connection valve 100. The radial branch passage 64 ofthe airflow passage 61 passes through the bridge member 90 tocommunicate with the fast flow way 80, whereby the fast flow waycommunicates with the air-sucking passage.

The use of the present invention is described hereinafter. According toBernoulli's principle that an increase in the speed of the fluid occurssimultaneously with a decrease in pressure, the sucker of the presentinvention generates a sucking force. In this embodiment, a high-pressureair pipeline 110 is connected to the connection valve 100 as shown inFIG. 2. The high-pressure air enters the fast flow way 80 through theair inlet end 82 of the fast flow way 80 and flows out of the fast flowway 80 from the air outlet end 84 thereof. After the high-pressure airflows into the fast flow way 80, the high-pressure air forms a fastairflow, which quickly flows through the fast flow way 80 due to theinternal structure thereof. Therefore, the air in the fast flow way 80has a high speed and low pressure. Relative to the fast flow way 80, theair in the air chamber 36 and the air-sucking passage 40 has a slowspeed and high pressure. Under the effect of pressure difference, theair in the air chamber 36 and the air-sucking passage 40 will flowtoward the fast flow way 80. As a result, a negative pressure (lowerthan atmospheric pressure) is created in the air-sucking passage 40 andthe air chamber 36 so that the sucker 10 generates a sucking force tomake the disc body 30 suck a surface 115 of an object as shown in FIG.5.

With the direction of FIG. 5 serving as a reference, when the sucker 10generates a sucking force, the lip edge 34 of the disc body snuglyattaches to the surface 115 of the object. Therefore, the entire sucker10 is moved to get closer to the surface. Under the sucking force, thelip edge 34 of the disc body 30 is flexed from an inclined state to ahorizontal state. The top face of the lip edge 34 is snugly attached tothe annular abutment face 26 of the main body 20, while the bottom faceof the lip edge 34 is snugly attached to the surface 115, whereby theair chamber 36 becomes a closed space isolated from outer side. The airin the air chamber 36 is sucked to the passageway 72 of the connectionrod 70. The channel 56 of the retainer member 50 serves as an air guidechannel to uniformly guide the air in the air chamber into thepassageway 72 and enhance the flowing efficiency. The air further flowsfrom the passageway 72 into the airflow passage 61 to be sucked into thefast flow way 80. The air is then exhausted from the air outlet end 84along with the fast airflow.

When the sucker 10 sucks a surface 115, due to the sucking force, theair chamber 36 forms a negative pressure space in which the air pressureis smaller than the atmospheric pressure. The high-speed airflowcontinuously flows through the fast flow way 80 so that the suckingforce of the sucker can be maintained to keep the air chamber 36 in anegative pressure state.

The annular wall 32 of the disc body 30 of the present invention has amovable lip edge 34 free to flex. When the sucker 10 sucks the surface115 of the object, under the negative pressure effect of the air chamber36, the lip edge 34 is optimally flexed to make the bottom face of thelip edge 34 snugly attach to and contact the surface 115. The top faceof the lip edge 34 is in contact with the abutment face 26 and supportedby the abutment face 26. Therefore, the soft lip edge 34 is clampedbetween the abutment face 26 and the surface 115 to achieve a goodairtight effect. Accordingly, the sucker of the present invention isable to provide an excellent sucking force. Moreover, thanks to theflexibility of the lip edge 34, the lip edge 34 can contact the surface115 by a large area. In addition, the soft disc body 30 can more snuglyattach to the surface of the object to enhance the airtight effectbetween the disc body 30 and the surface 115. In this case, the air inthe air chamber 36 can hardly escape from the air chamber so that theattachment of the sucker to the surface 115 can be ensured. Also, thecapacity of the air chamber 36 is reduced so that the negative pressurespace is minified to increase the sucking force.

When the airflow in the fast flow way 80 is stopped or interrupted, thesurface is released from the sucking force of the sucker.

In this embodiment, the sucker can provide very good sucking force witha small volume of high-pressure air. It is revealed from the test of theapplicant that a sucker with a diameter of about 8 cm can suck an objectwith a weight over 10 kg. It is proved through the test the sucker ofthe present invention not only can suck a polished surface, but also cansuck a non-polished surface with raised/recessed sections andmicro-orifices, such as the surface of a wooden board, a brick, a cementwall or a metal article. Moreover, the sucker also can provide suckingforce in the water. Please refer to the attachment, which is a test filmof a real sample of the sucker of the present invention applied todifferent objects. In the film, the sucker of the present invention cansuck various objects made of different materials with different weightsand different surface properties. The sucker of the present invention istruly able to provide strong sucking force to suck different heavyobjects. For example, as shown in the film, the sucker of the presentinvention can suck concrete block and cylindrical iron block. Also, theobjects can be quickly released from the sucking force of the sucker ofthe present invention. It is proved in the film that the sucker 10 ofthe present invention can quickly provide sucking force and the airtighteffect between the main body, the lip edge 34 and the surface 115 of theobject is excellent. Accordingly, the air in the air chamber 36 can besucked away by a speed higher than the speed by which the air escapesfrom the non-polished surface of the wooden board or brick. That is, theair in the air chamber can hardly escape through the gaps between thelip edge and the surface of the object in time.

Please now refer to FIG. 6, which is a longitudinal sectional view of asecond embodiment of the sucker 10′ of the present invention. The samecomponents are denoted with the same reference numerals and will notrepeatedly described hereinafter.

In this embodiment, the outer diameter of the main body 20 isapproximately equal to the outer diameter of the disc body 30. Thediameter of the annular abutment face 26 is also approximately equal tothe diameter of the lip edge 34. Referring to FIG. 7, when the sucker10′ sucks the surface 115 of an object, the entire top face of the lipedge 34 of the disc body 30 is supported by the abutment face 26 so thatthe airtight effect between the sucker 10′ and the surface 115 isfurther enhanced. In addition, an oblique conic section 59 furtheroutward extends from the outer circumference of the retainer member 50′corresponding to the conic face of the room 25 of the main body 20. Inthis case, the annular wall 32 of the disc body 30 is more securely heldand supported.

Please now refer to FIGS. 8 and 9. FIG. 8 is a longitudinal sectionalview of a third embodiment of the sucker 10″ of the present invention.FIG. 9 is a sectional view according to FIG. 8, showing the use of thethird embodiment of the sucker 10″ of the present invention. The thirdembodiment is substantially identical to the second embodiment instructure. In this embodiment, the annular abutment face 26 of the mainbody is further formed with an annular groove 27, whereby the annularabutment face is formed with an inner annular support face 261 and anouter annular support face 262. When the sucker 10″ sucks the surface115 of an object, the top face of the lip edge 34 is supported by thetwo support faces 261, 262 to achieve double airtight effect. Moreover,the annular groove 27 can receive the non-plane or squeezed section ofthe lip edge 34, whereby the lip edge can more snugly attach to thesurface 115 of the object and the two support faces to enhance theairtight effect and sucking force.

Please now refer to FIG. 10, which is a longitudinal sectional view of afourth embodiment of the sucker 10′″ of the present invention. The samecomponents are denoted with the same reference numerals and will notrepeatedly described hereinafter. The fourth embodiment includes a mainbody 20, a disc body 30, a retainer member 50, a support 60 and aconnection rod 70. The support 60 is integrally formed with the mainbody 20. The support 60 is a straight tubular body and an L-shapedtubular body. The support 60 has an internal airflow passage 61 as apart of the air sucking passage 40. The support 60 of the sucker 10′″ isconnected to a specific section of a sucking device, such as a tubularbody 120 as shown by phantom lines of FIG. 10. It should be noted thatthe disc body 30 can be directly fixed by the main body and the retainermember.

FIGS. 11 and 12 show a fifth embodiment of the sucker 10″″ of thepresent invention. As shown in the drawings, three suckers 10″″ aremounted on a base seat A of a mechanical apparatus (not shown). Thethree suckers 10″″ commonly use a main body 20. The structure of thesuckers is as shown in FIG. 12. The same components of this embodimentas the aforesaid embodiments are denoted with the same referencenumerals.

A tapered room 25 and an annular abutment face 26 are formed on asection of the main body 20 where each disc body 30 is mounted. Apassage 28 is formed through the main body 20. A first end (a bottomend) of the passage 28 communicates with the room 25. The disc body 30is mounted in the room 25. The lip edge 34 is positioned under theabutment face 26. Two or more connection members 120 such as threadedmembers are used to connect the retainer member 50 with the main body 20to fix the disc body 30 between the retainer member 50 and the main body20. The retainer member 50 is formed with an internal hole 54. Theinternal hole 54 passes through the retainer member 50 between the topface and bottom face of the retainer member 50. The top end of theinternal hole 54 communicates with the bottom end of the passage 28. Theinternal hole 54 and the passage 28 together form the air-suckingpassage 40. The air-sucking passage 40 is positioned at the centers ofthe disc body 30 and the room 25. The connection members 120 arearranged around the air-sucking passage 40. A ring-shaped leakproofmember 125 is disposed between the passage 28 of the main body 20 andthe internal hole 54 of the retainer member 50.

A connection valve 100 connected with an air pipeline and a fast flowway 80 are further disposed on the main body 20 in a position where eachsucker is positioned. The connection valve 100 is an air inlet end 82 ofthe fast flow way 80, while the other end of the fast flow way is an airoutlet end 84. The second end, (that is, the top end of the passage 28)of the air-sucking passage 40 communicates with the fast flow way 80.The first end, (that is, the bottom end of the internal hole 54) of theair-sucking passage 40 communicates with the air chamber 36 of the discbody 30.

When air quickly flows through the fast flow way 80, the suckers 10″″create sucking force to suck the surface of an object. The bottom faceof the lip edge 34 of the disc body 30 is snugly attached to the surfaceof the object and the top face of the lip edge 34 is supported by theabutment face 26.

In conclusion, the sucker of the present invention has better suckingeffect and is able to bear higher load than the conventional sucker.Moreover, the sucker of the present invention is applicable to anon-polished surface to widen the application range of the sucker.

The above embodiments are only used to illustrate the present invention,not intended to limit the scope thereof. Many modifications of the aboveembodiments can be made without departing from the spirit of the presentinvention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A sucker comprising: a main, a bottom face of themain body being formed with a concaved room; an annular abutment facebeing disposed on the bottom face of the main body and positioned aroundthe room; a disc body made of a flexible material, the disc body havinga tapered annular wall formed around the disc body, the disc body beingdisposed under the bottom face of the main body, an outer circumferenceof the annular wall being outward downward inclined to form a lip edge,which is freely flexible, the lip edge being positioned below theannular abutment face of the main body, an angle being contained betweenthe lip edge and the abutment face; an air chamber being formed in thedisc body and defined by the annular wall of the disc body; and anair-sucking passage positioned in the main body and the disc body, theair-sucking passage having a first end and a second end, the first endof the air-sucking passage communicating with the air chamber of thedisc body, the second end of the air-sucking passage passing through thedisc body and the room of the main body to communicate with outer side.2. The sucker as claimed in claim 1, wherein the annular abutment faceis a horizontal plane face.
 3. The sucker as claimed in claim 1, whereinthe annular abutment face of the main body is further formed with anannular groove, whereby the annular abutment face is formed with aninner annular support face and an outer annular support face.
 4. Thesucker as claimed in claim 1, wherein the angle contained between thelip edge and the annular abutment face ranges from 20 degrees to 35degrees.
 5. The sucker as claimed in claim 2, wherein the anglecontained between the lip edge and the annular abutment face ranges from20 degrees to 35 degrees.
 6. The sucker as claimed in claim 1, furthercomprising a retainer member disposed under the disc body; the disc bodyis fixedly clamped between the main body and the retainer member.
 7. Thesucker as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a retainer member, asupport and a hollow connection rod, the retainer member beingpositioned under the disc body; the support being disposed on a top faceof the main body, an airflow passage being formed in the support; theconnection rod having an internal passageway, the connection rod passingthrough the disc body and the main body; two ends of the connection rodbeing respectively connected with the retainer member and the support;one end of the passageway communicating with the air chamber, the otherend of the passageway communicating with one end of the airflow passageof the support, the passageway and the airflow passage together formingthe air-sucking passage.
 8. The sucker as claimed in claim 6, wherein atleast one radial channel being formed on the bottom face of the retainermember in communication with the first end of the air-sucking passage.9. The sucker as claimed in claim 7, wherein at least one radial channelbeing formed on the bottom face of the retainer member in communicationwith the first end of the air-sucking passage.
 10. The sucker as claimedin claim 1, further comprising a fast flow way disposed on the sucker;the second end of the air-sucking passage communicating with the fastflow way.
 11. The sucker as claimed in claim 6, further comprising afast flow way disposed on the sucker; the second end of the air-suckingpassage communicating with the fast flow way.
 12. The sucker as claimedin claim 10, wherein the fast way flow is disposed in the main body andhas an air inlet end and an air outlet end.
 13. The sucker as claimed inclaim 11, wherein the fast way flow is disposed in the main body and hasan air inlet end and an air outlet end.
 14. The sucker as claimed inclaim 10, further comprising a support connected with atop end of themain body, the fast flow way being disposed in the support, the fastflow way having an air inlet end and an air outlet end, the second endof the air-sucking passage being positioned in the support incommunication with the fast flow way.
 15. The sucker as claimed in claim11, further comprising a support connected with atop end of the mainbody, the fast flow way being disposed in the support, the fast flow wayhaving an air inlet end and an air outlet end, the second end of theair-sucking passage being positioned in the support in communicationwith the fast flow way.
 16. The sucker as claimed in claim 7, furthercomprising a valve member disposed on one side of the support, a fastflow way being disposed in the valve member, the fast flow way having anair inlet end and an air outlet end, the second end of the air-suckingpassage being in communication with the fast flow way and positionedbetween the air inlet end and the air outlet end of the fast flow way.